CRM Outlook Lagging Behind? Not Anymore!

The “Not so Good News”

Ever since it was introduced, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Outlook client has been both a saving grace and a cause for frustration. The flexibility and seamlessness of the feature is second to none; however, the long processing time and occasional performance issues have left many users kicking the tires.

CRM Outlook Client Sync Settings

When you use CRM for Outlook, CRM automatically synchronizes records that you own from the CRM server to your Outlook folders. CRM for Outlook uses online synchronization filters to determine the records to copy from CRM to your local hard drive. This leads to possible performance issues especially if you have thousands of CRM records that are constantly being updated via the automatic synchronization.

The GREAT News

The first thing to do is to check how often your automatic synchronization is set to run. It is important to note that the minimum allowed time is 15 minutes. We recommend you change this time interval if you can manage with a longer time in between these automatic updates. Follow these steps to perform this action (see figure 1):

When in Outlook and you go to File then select CRM
In the Set Personal Options section click on the icon
A new window will appear. Click on the Synchronization tab
Scroll down to the very bottom. You will see Schedule automatic sync with Outlook
Adjust the time frequency as desired

The second step is to set the filters to determine which CRM records are synced to Outlook. To do this keep personal options window open. This process isn’t as straightforward as the one prior, but this walk through should help you get the job done (see figure 2).